NEW YORK -- A delegation of Hopi and Navajo warned Lehman Brothers stockholders
of the dire consequences of their actions in 2001.

In a rare move, censored by most media,
an American Indian elders delegation warned Lehman Brothers, after it acquired
the financial interests of Peabody Coal, of the spiritual consequences of mining
coal on sacred Black Mesa and the aftermath of Peabody Coal's machinations that
led to the so-called Navajo Hopi Land Dispute. Lehman Brothers is now in
the midst of financial collapse, with its bankruptcy producing a rippling effect
throughout the world's economy.

At the time of the Lehman Brothers
stockholders meeting in 2001, Arlene Hamilton bought two shares of stocks in
Lehman Brothers to pave the way for the delegation to address the stockholders.
Hamilton said her life was threatened because of this action. Shortly
afterwards, Hamilton was killed in a car crash. Longtime Navajo relocation
resister Roberta Blackgoat died in San Francisco at Hamilton's memorial.

A traditional Hopi was among those
addressing the Lehman Brothers stockholders. His admonitions followed those of
the late Hopi Sinom elders Thomas Banyacya and Dan Evehema, among the Hopi
elders who warned of dire consequences, including natural disasters and
worldwide consequences, if Peabody mined coal on Black Mesa and Navajos were
relocated from this sacred region. The Hopi Sinom never authorized the
establishment of the Hopi Tribal Council, which they referred to as a puppet
government of the United States.

The traditional Hopi in the delegation
told stockholders, "Lehman Brothers, even though we are just a few here, we
speak for the Creator, who is the majority." Therefore we demand you stop the
Peabody coal mining and the slurry. We demand again," said the Hopi elder who
asked that his name not be published in the media.

"Traditional and priesthood people don't want this mining. The Hopi prophecies
say that we have to protect land and life. If we don't protect our beautiful
Earth --our Heaven, our Mother, we will suffer with her." He told stockholders
that Hopis never signed a treaty with the United States and the current Hopi
Tribal Council is not legitimate since it was created by less than 30 percent of
the people.

Referring to the beginning of the
turmoil, he said, "John Boyden was a lawyer who worked for Peabody Coal. He was
instrumental to the creation of the Hopi Tribal Council. "Our ancestors
warned that someday this would happen. White men will say that it is our own
people that sold this land. I will not accept this.

"Our roots are rooted in our villages and it goes up to the whole universe. If
we break these roots the world will get out of balance.

"I pray for you and hope that we open your eyes and you find the majority in
your heart."

Roberta Blackgoat, longtime resister and
sheepherder from Cactus Valley, told stockholders the region of San Francisco
Peaks is holy to the Navajo
people. Mining in the area of this sacred mountain is the same as desecrating an
altar and church. It is making the people sick. "We can not go away to other
places," Blackgoat said, adding that livestock confiscation is "starving the
people."

"When you have a pinprick on your finger, just take it off and the pain will go
away. But there are too many pins on the Mother Earth. Barbed wire is all over
the country, dividing the people."

Navajos from Big Mountain protesting coal mining in
front of the Navajo Nation Council chambers in Window Rock, Arizona. The
photo was taken by Cate Gilles, longtime news reporter who exposed the
destruction of coal mining on Black Mesa. Cate was also among the first
to expose the dangers of uranium mining in the Grand Canyon. Cate was
found dead, hanged with a dog chain, in Tucson in August of 2001.)

Blackgoat was among the families
resisting forced relocation. After Peabody orchestrated the so-called Navajo
Hopi Land Dispute, more than 12,000 Navajos were relocated to make way for
Peabody's coal mining. Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., was among those responsible
for Navajo relocation. Leonard Benally, Navajo from Big Mountain on Black Mesa
in Arizona, said the delegation told Lehman Brothers that it is time to
transform operations to renewable forms of energy, including solar and wind
power.

"It was like opening this marble door to
the Lehman Brothers. We got our foot in there. They were willing to listen. By
going there, the delegation touched their hearts." Benally said the delegation
also dispelled myths. "They say it's a land dispute, but it is not. The
traditional Hopi and Navajo are standing together, they are the original
inhabitants of Black Mesa. We are the caretakers. "Benally said the people
have been struggling for 32 years because of the turmoil created by Hopi and
Navajo tribal leaders intent on making money from the 92 billion tons of coal
beneath the ground at Black Mesa. But, he said, the resistance actually goes
back 500 years to the Spanish invasion, followed by the European invasion.
Finally there was the Kit Carson invasion.
"That's when the people were put in the death camps."

While Navajos were incarcerated at Fort Sumner, he said, "The military made
promises, mountains of promises they never kept. "While the Navajo Nation
government in Window Rock celebrated Sovereignty Day in April (2001), Benally
said tribal leaders force their own people to suffer respiratory disease and
death from coal mining, sacrificing them for mining royalties.

"Sovereignty Day? That's a joke. For us, we live it. They oppress their own
race. They make them bleed. "In the 1970s, the Four Corners region was
considered a National Sacrifice area, but Benally said it is time to change that
classification to a National Historic Site.

"The sacredness is still here. Mother Earth is still here. She still breathes.
As long as the air blows, the rivers run, Indigenous people will be out here."
Benally said the Navajo and Hopi delegation moved in solidarity with the
Zapatistas whose caravan through Mexico gave them hope in 2001.

"We felt the wind, it came from the
South. It is telling the Indigenous people to rise up for their beliefs, their
culture. These things are not being respected by
anyone but the Indigenous people."

In New York, Joe Chasing Horse, Sundance Chief at Big Mountain, addressed the
protest rally and spoke to Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking Fund
stockholders."You have taken all of our land, now we have come to show you how
to take care of it," Chasing Horse said.

"The traditionalists have the wisdom, we
are the wisdom keepers." Glenna Begay, Navajo protesting in New York, said, "I
traveled 3,000miles to be here and to voice my concern about what's happening to
us out there on the land. I want the mining to stop." Louise Benally of Big
Mountain said, "We need to hold the owners accountable by letting them know the
hardship we live with every day."

Arlene Hamilton, coordinator of the
Weaving for Freedom project and wife of Leonard Benally, personally bought two
shares in the corporation to ensure
entrance into the stockholders meeting. She and Benally negotiated with Lehman
Brothers to allow the elders time to address stockholders.

"These were some of the richest men and
women in the world. The delegation was so beautiful, and so with the truth.
Their presence was holy."

Back in Flagstaff in 2001, Hamilton said Lehman Brothers and Peabody Coal now
have the opportunity to make a difference in the future of mankind.

"We want the dehumanizing and
militarizing to stop. There is a lot of suffering going on. We want to make sure
the ceremonies are not surrounded by guns and the people have clean drinking
water.

"There is no life without water."
Hamilton said Navajo elders resisting relocation often become dehydrated during
the hot summer months because
of the scarcity of clean water, while Peabody Coal pumps 10,000 gallons of water
a minute to slurry coal. She has taken human rights concerns to
Peabody management for years, but she said they have done little to improve the
quality of living as promised.

"It's really just diversion and
distraction while the people are suffering out there. Everything is based
on making way for mining."

The delegation presented a list of demands to Lehman Brothers, demanding that
Peabody leave the water and coal alone because they are the lungs and liver of
Mother Earth. They called for a halt to mining and the initiation of a solar
project, availability of clean drinking water, and a halt to military over
flights and the intimidation of elders and youths by armed rangers.

Hamilton said the Weaving for Freedom
project is a collective of Dine' weavers in resistance struggling for religious
freedom to practice their ancient craft while protecting their sacred land.
Hamilton said, "This work is very risky now. We protect each other by traveling
in large groups." Leonard Benally said, "The whole thing is about materialism,
money. In our culture, money doesn't matter. It is about how you live in harmony
with nature, in harmony with your prayers.

"That's why we are fighting for our
lands, even though the media and politicians are telling us we don't have a
right to exist."

Meanwhile, Bill Ahearn, spokesman for Lehman Brothers, said the protesters were
welcome to speak at the meeting but said the firm would be unable to
help them. He said the issues must be resolved by the tribes and BIA. "We're
very sympathetic and we feel badly for them, but there's nothing we can do for
them because it's not a problem with us."

Posted by brendanorrell@gmail.com

The Manataka American Indian Council has
long supported the Black Mesa Indigenous Support organization's
http://blackmesais.org/ effort to
fight the Peabody Coal Company, the Navajo and Hopi puppet tribal governments of
the United States, and dozens of greedy politicians over the issue of sacred
land. We now renew our 2001 prediction: "All who participate in the
desecration of Black Mesa lands will be cast to the wind and buried by the
sand."